At the 1000 block of Brentwood Way in Sandy Springs March 15, a man reported someone stole his 2005 Chevy Astro Van sometime during the night. “If someone is willing to steal a car and selects a Chevy Astro Van, this tells me they have two problems,” Rose said in a statement. “One, they’re committing an illegal act and two, they have low self-esteem. You get in the same amount of trouble stealing a Mercedes Benz as a Chevy Astro Van. We need a classier crook.”

Also, at the Cross Creek condos in Buckhead March 9, someone reported their white 1992 Chevy Astro Van (Ga. license plate No. BDX9768) was stolen from the parking lot at 4002 Noble Creek Drive. The vehicle title and bill of sale were inside the vehicle at the time of the theft. The vehicle will be added to the system pending proof of ownership.

o SCAMMED: At the 6800 block of Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Sandy Springs March 20, a 31-year-old woman said she received a “Customer Research” e-mail from a man named Antonio asking her to be a mystery shopper. She later received a check for $1,830 with instructions to obtain a MoneyGram for $1,580, from Walmart, and send it to a Manila, Philippines, address. The victim was later told the check was fraudulent. The report doesn’t say if or not the woman sent the balance to Manila. This scenario should look familiar since Rose has written about them dozens of times of the years. For a quick reference list of scams, including the mystery shopper visit www.sandyspringspolice.org and click on “Community Affairs.”

o NO PAY GUARANTEE: Cops received a call to Guaranteed Auto Co., 7295 Roswell Road in Sandy Springs, March 15 and met with a man, his grandmother and the manager of the store. The man said he had been working at the shop for a week and he was trying to collect his paycheck. The manager said he wanted to prosecute the man for hitting an employee, damaging a car and stealing money. The man said he got into a fight with his father, also a Guaranteed Auto Co. employee, while sitting inside a 2000 Lexus RX300, which the man was interested in buying. The fight started with the man told his father that the odometer did not match the Carfax report. Punches were thrown back and forth resulting in a broken rear-view mirror and cracked windshield. The manager said the man had agreed to buy the car and had taken it off the lot. The manager tracked the car via GPS and drove over to Cobb County to retrieve it, which resulted in an incident where Cobb County Police was called out. “Anyway, this dysfunctional group of people didn’t want charges pressed and the man was told to stay away from the shop,” Rose said. The manager was told to pay the employee his wages through the mail.

o NO FALSE ALARM: At a home at 4321 Harris Valley Road in Buckhead March 10, the victim received a phone call from his or her alarm company advising of a house alarm going off. The victim figured it was a false alarm and had the alarm company cancel the police’s house check. The victim returned home and found the glass back door broken. The victim found various property stolen, including jewelry and silverware. The victim said FedEx attempted to deliver a package that day and checked the delivery time and noticed FedEx delivered the package three minutes before the house alarm was set off. Police photographed and fingerprinted the scene but have no suspects.

o COPPER CROOKS: At 790 Huff Road in west Midtown March 14, Jordan Penney of Walton Construction reported 200 feet of copper tubing was stolen from the building under construction there. Penney said workers left the location at 6 p.m. the previous day and discovered the theft the next morning.

The names and charges above are from area arrest warrants and crime reports. A warrant is merely an accusation of a crime and accused people are innocent until proven guilty.

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